Operational Analysis: Strategies for Customer Service at Colesworths

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of customer service operations at Colesworths, focusing on interpersonal skills required for various customer needs, organizational requirements for prioritizing service delivery, and communication methods for informing customers. It explores strategies for enhancing customer satisfaction, including promptness, rapport building, and differentiation of service for diverse customer groups such as the elderly, those from different cultures, individuals with disabilities, and those with limited English proficiency. The report also identifies opportunities for enhancing product and service quality, methods for measuring customer satisfaction, and effective monitoring procedures. Furthermore, it addresses responding to negative feedback, communicating customer service strategies, and the impact of anti-discrimination legislation, ethical principles, codes of practice, privacy laws, financial legislations, and Work Health and Safety (WHS) on Colesworths' business operations. This document is available on Desklib, a platform offering a wide range of study resources for students.

Running head: OPERATIONS
Customer service at Colesworths
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

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1. Interpersonal skills needed for satisfying the following customer needs and
expectations in case of Colesworths
Advice and general information
 Good communication skills
 Emotional intelligence
 Negotiation, persuasion and influencing skills
 Conflict solving and mediation
 Problem solving and decision-making skills (Orenga-Roglá and Chalmeta 2016)
Complaints
 Good communication skills for:
1. Understanding the complaint
2. Asking for clarification on doubts
3. Giving personalized response to the customers
4. Understanding and analysing the emotions of the customers (Miraz et al. 2016)
Price enquiry
 Patience
 Clear communication
 Positive attitude
 Effective listening skills (Kao et al. 2016)
 Spontaneity in checking the request of the customers and providing accurate response
Purchasing a product
 Oriental approach towards getting the details of the products
 Time management

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 Judgmental decision-making skills
 Flexibility and adaptability
 Relationship building skills
 Active listening skills
 Effective negotiation skills (Koistinen and Järvinen 2016)
Returning a product
 Clear understanding about the return and exchange policies
 Awareness about the reasons why the customers are returning the product
 Sound knowledge of the date of purchase
 Sound knowledge of the initial refund period
 Consciousness towards verifying the receipts (Kaski et al. 2018)
2. Organizational requirements for determining priorities for service delivery
For determining priorities of service delivery, the personnel of Colesworths needs to
consider the identified and the specified goals at the initial stage. After this, development of
the list of the possible activities is crucial in terms of assessing the current strategic condition
(Cook 2017). Along with this, checklists are important for assessing whether the exposed
performance is in alignment with the identified and specified goals. Monitoring reports are
also necessary for estimating the progress in the upcoming days.
3. Communication methods for informing the customers about the choices
Social media marketing can be used by Colesworths for informing the customers
about the choices, which they can avail within the purchases. Joint venture with the other
online shopping sites would provide the customers with the opportunity to compare the prices
of the products before purchasing them (Agnihotri et al. 2016).

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4. Assistance for customer satisfaction
Upon finding that I am incapable in satisfying the customers, I would approach my
immediate next in hierarchy, that is, my manager for seeking assistance (Kaura et al. 2015).
5. Ensuring promptness in customer service
Spontaneity in responding to the customer complaints would be one of the means of
ensuring promptness within the services. Consideration of checklists would help in estimating
the time within which the complaints were resolved. Tracking the behaviour of the personnel
while dealing with the complaints would be one of the means for ensuring the presence pf
promptness within customer services (Cook 2017).
6. Maintaining rapport with the customers
Seeking effective channels through which the information can be conveyed to the
customers is one of the effective means for achieving customer’s satisfaction. Uploading
survey and feedback forms on the social media is another option for enhancing the awareness
about the specific needs and preferences of the customers. Using security cookies and
policies in the official website and the profile of the customers would help in gaining trust,
loyalty and dependence from the customers. Kaski, Niemi and Pullins (2018) feel that
reciprocation for the investments by the customers is one of the other means through which
rapport can be established with the customers. Most importantly, rationality needs to be
exposed in the services for gaining dependence and loyalty from the customers.
7. Differentiation of customer service in case of:
a. Elderly customer

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While dealing with the elderly customers, the staffs of Colesworths need to be
respectful in their approach. Patiently listening to their issues would be productive in gaining
their trust, loyalty and dependence (Koistinen and Järvinen 2016).
b. Customer belonging to different culture
Body language of the customer care executives would be different. Along with this,
Kao, Tsaur and Wu (2016) are of the view that translators would be hired for removing the
instances of language barriers. Getting depressed on the expression of negative outcomes
would be against the ethical code of conduct. For this, emotional control is necessary for the
Colesworths personnel in terms of dealing with the individual tastes and preferences.
c. Customer with disability
Respect is one of the primary attributes, which is needed in case of the Colesworths
for dealing with the needs, demands and requirements of the customers suffering from
disabilities. As per the opinions of Boxall, Nyanjom and Slaven (2018), assistance from the
skilled and efficient supervisors would be productive in solving the issues of disabled
customers. Implementation of Ethical Code of Conduct would help the personnel in handling
the emergency situations in an efficient and effective manner.
d. Customer with limited English speaking skills
Using gestures would make the customers of Colesworths feel that their opinions is
valued. Miraz, Ali and Excell (2016) thinks that at this stage, the speed of talking needs to
slowed down. Shouting would be an irrational response, which can create misunderstandings.
Diagrammatic representation can be one of the effective means for conveying the ideas to the
customers.
8. Opportunities for enhancing and promoting the services and products

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Colesworths personnel can use the following for emhancing and promoting the
quality of the services and products:
 Celebrity endorsements
 Social media advertisements
 Direct and indirect marketing
9. Opportunities to enhance the quality of the products and services
The personnel of Colesworths can avail the following opportunities for enhancing the
quality of the products and services:
 Laboratory tests
 Creating long term plans for quality improvement (Beckford 2016)
 Market research
 Journey mapping for the current quality
10. Three methods for measuring customer satisfaction
Colesworths personnel can adopt the following methods for measuring customer
satisfaction:
 Direct methods- survey, feedbacks, face to face conversations
 Indirect methods-customer complaints and customer loyalty (Cook 2017)
 Tracking the involvement of the customers on the news feeds on social media
11. Effective monitoring of the customer service procedures
Colesworth personnel can take into account CEM Maturity Model for tracking the
customer service procedures. This model would act as a framework for improving customer
service. Orenga-Roglá and Chalmeta (2016) states that according to this model, organizing

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interactive sessions would be beneficial in terms of gaining an insight into the effectiveness,
feasibility and appropriateness of the provided services.
12. Customer service feedback questionnaire
Customer service feedback questionnaire, in case of Colesworths would include the
following:
 Satisfaction levels of the customers towards the gym products
 Recommendation of the brand to friends, colleagues and acquaintances
 Demographic details
 Market research results
 Issues within the purchased product (Hill and Brierley 2017)
 Net Promoter Score
13. Response to negative customer feedback
Spontaneous reply to the negative customers would preserve the reputation of
Colesworths. As per the arguments of Bhandari and Rodgers (2018), offering for making the
modifications can be one of the ways for retaining the customers, provided it is done
rationally and consciously. Authentic replies to the feedback is essential in terms of
maintaining the stability in the relationship with the customers. Politeness in the response
would reflect caring approach towards the issues, which the customers are facing.
Sympathetic approach in modifications is crucial in terms of catering to the individual
sentiments of customers. Personal interactions would be beneficial in terms of delving deep
into the issues, which the customers think can stall the productivity (Bradley, Sparks and
Weber 2016). Involving the customers in decision-making process would help the personnel
to avert the instances of conflicts, discriminations and harassments.
14. Communicating and monitoring the customer service strategies

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Creating customer service vision is one of the primary step for attaching good start
towards effective customer service. Colesworths personnel need to conduct need analysis of
the employees before communicating the created vision to the customers. Lewis (2019) states
that this analysis would help in aligning the needs and the developed strategies. For this,
hiring the rightful candidates would be fruitful in terms of adopting good practices for
satisfying the needs of the customers. Setting goals would be beneficial in terms of
monitoring the appropriateness of the developed customer services. Training the employees
would enhance the awareness of the personnel towards serving the customers in an efficient
and effective manner. Post training tests would help the managers in assessing the capability
of the employees in making practical application of the learnt skills towards effective
handling of the customer issues (Floreddu and Cabiddu 2016). Rewarding the good
performance of the employees would be one of the good practices towards extracting
productive performance.
15. How do the following affect the business of Colesworths:
a. Anti-discrimination legislation
Anti-discrimination legislation would help Colesworths personnel to avert the
instances of conflicts, discriminations and harassments. Moreover, Smith (2016) points out
that the legislation would prove beneficial in enhancing the organizational behaviour. This is
crucial in terms of upgrading the reputation of the brand image.
b. Ethical principles
Implementation of ethical principles would help Colesworth to regulate the behaviour
of the employees. Along with this, ethical principles would act as an effective means for
respecting the individual opinions of the employees belonging to different cultures (Goldstein
et al. 2018). This process would be effective in terms of enhancing the cultural diversity.

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c. Codes of practice
Incorporation of Codes of practice would upgrade the standards and quality of the
performance for Colesworths. Neill (2016) opines that this Code would enhance the
awareness of the employees regarding the parameters, which would be used for judging their
performances.
d. Privacy laws
According to Bennett and Raab (2017), using privacy laws would be productive in
terms of preserving the security and privacy of the confidential records. Using security
cookies would yield positive results in this direction.
e. Financial legislations
Financial legislations would legalize the financial activities of Colesworths. These
legislations avert the illegal financial scandals, which can degrade the reputation of the brand
(Abdel-Khalik and Chen 2015).
f. Work Health and Safety (WHS)
This is a legislation, which caters to the wellbeing of the employees during their stay
in the workplace. In case of Colesworths, typical components of Work Health and Safety
(WHS) would be accidental policies for averting the risks of injuries while the customers are
availing the gym services (Worksafe.qld.gov.au 2019).

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[Accessed on 22nd January 2019]